The collective bargaining agreement between the National Basketball Association and its players’ union allows for roughly 400 athletes to call themselves NBA players in any given year.

Basketball is truly an international sport, trailing only soccer in global popularity. The last NBA season tipped off with exactly 100 foreigners (representing 37 different countries and territories) occupying said roster spots.

Such facts make it astonishing that three current players in the world’s premier league hail from Chester, a city home to just 34,000 people.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of the Brooklyn Nets is entering his second year in the NBA. Tyreke Evans, a member of the New Orleans Pelicans and the league’s Rookie of the Year in 2010, is entering his eighth season in the league.

Jameer Nelson, most recently of the Denver Nuggets, is in the twilight of his career, having just ended his 14th year in the NBA. But the elder statesman hasn’t stopped racking up the accolades.

Last week, the NBA Players’ Association held its 2016 awards banquet, and Nelson was the recipient of the Denver Nuggets Teammate of the Year award.

The point guard and former All-Star only appeared in 39 games for the Nuggets this past season, and averaged 7.7 points, while shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 4.9 assists in 26.6 minutes per game.

Nelson came to Denver in a midseason trade from the Boston Celtics in the spring of 2015. The 34-year-old was instrumental in transforming the culture in the locker room and around the organization last season.

A year ago, the NBAPA created a separate group of awards for players to vote on after many in the league became critical of the media voting for the Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and other season-ending awards.

Despite an illustrious professional career, Nelson is perhaps best known for his collegiate exploits, for leading Saint Joseph’s to an undefeated regular season in 2003-04, his senior year on City Line Avenue. Nelson and the Hawks captivated the nation then, having improbably sat atop the national rankings before the NCAA Tournament.